Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Anna Hazare Brings August Kranti to Fight Against Corruption

Anna Hazare has been trying to get the government to pass the Lok Pal bill with the intention to fight the rampant corruption in the country. He decided to go on a fast on 16th August, one day after the independence day in Delhi at JP park. Well, what do you know, before he could even step out of his house, he was picked up by the police officials and taken straight to jail. Great! What an ingenious way to try and put an end to a threat. Arrest the person responsible for causing an agitation and lock him up in jail. He was taken straight to Tihar jail.

If the congress govt thought that they had the situation under control, and had nipped the problem in the bud, they were absolutely wrong. The people of India showed their support for the cause and for Anna Hazare by turning up in huge numbers and marching towards the India Gate. Throughout the whole day, more and more people are joining the march and collecting on roads waving the Indian flag and shouting slogans asking the police and the govt to release Anna Hazare from jail. Of course, they have no intention of doing so, so soon as they probably have realized the power of Anna Hazare and his movement.

Anna Hazare with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Tihar Jail

For the last 64 years now we have seen how the government have been slowly and surely looting the country and it's people and abusing power. Their governance has been no different from the very British who we strove to drive out of our country. Till today, they are still using the same old ways and methods that were set in the constitution by the British Raj. Adopting the divide and rule policy has given the govt the upper hand, making all the states as their respective "kingdoms" where they can dictate terms to the people by using strong arm tactics and terrorising the poor people into submission so that they get the desired number of votes. Is that true "democracy"?

We have seen the govt officials and members of the parliament involved in shameless scams after scams of all kinds and the justice system never seems to get anywhere with them. These people are still sitting snugly in their "cozy" luxury apartments and flats built out of this loot and smiling away smugly at us when caught on camera. Corruption is rampant now and become a way of life for not only the govt but anyone who wants to become rich and famous. Why only rich and famous? Even the common man is now forced into being corrupt when he wants to get a simple job done. Want to buy a flat? Pay some amount in cash, that is black money. That is corruption. Move a file? Pay some bribe and get the file where you want in a jiffy.

Recently, a lot of scams came into the limelight, involving big names from the govt, corporations and the big businessmen, the 2G scam and the Adarsh scam involved crores of rupees, just to name a few. This is shameful. Anna Hazare is trying to fight this corruption and bring about a change in the constitution to make a new law so that nobody can get away with corruption, even if it is the Prime Minister himself.

Anna Hazare is being called the "August Kranti" for raising this issue and getting the support of millions of Indians to fight for this cause. He has used the social media to his advantage, by taking his cause to face book, twitter and you tube. I do support this cause, and even if I am unable to physically be present at the march or protest that's taking place at the India gate today, I will do my bit to further the cause by writing this blog. If you too want to support this cause just click on this link and paste it as your profile picture on facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/isupportannahazare/

I think Anna Hazare has used the Gandhian way of protesting by going on a fast, taking out a walk, asking people to fill the jails "jail bharo" andolan and the non co-operation movement. I think its a clever move on his part, after all it was this very congress party who got into power by using Gandhi's same tactics to drive the Britishers out of India and get freedom. These same people are now calling this method "unconstitutional".

The govt has not handled this matter in the right way by arresting Anna Hazare and putting him in jail. This is undemocratic. The people are angry and will revolt even more now. Do they think they can fool us with all this mindless talk? The way the parliamentarians discussed the issue in the house today showed that they were scared to lose their power over the people and a way to make easy money. The statements made by Kapil Sibal were shameless and showed their true colors.

I urge the people who are in this protest to stay focused on the subject at hand, that is fight to end corruption, and not to get waylaid by the talks that are being held by the police and govt officials who are just trying to get things under control once again, and are hoping to sidetrack the basic issue. They will do anything to wriggle out of passing an "anti-corruption" bill in parliament. The other parties are equally guilty of this charge and are no different from the ruling party, so their show of support to this cause is purely political. They probably just want to use this cause to overthrow the present govt and force another elections on the people.

Let's hope that this August Kranti will make a difference to the civil society. This may be the revolution that we have all been waiting for. So if you feel strongly about the way you have been fooled by the govt all these years, then its time to show your support and join the cause in any way that you can. Let's teach these arrogant politicians a lesson for life. Let's remind them that "democracy" means - Of the people, By the people and For the people........Jai Hind!

Anna Hazara, who styles himself on India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, refused to leave jail on Wednesday after the government u-turned over his detention and ordered his release.